


The MCU Games

by The_Marauders_Daughter



Series: Steggy Positivity Week 2k16 [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: #steggyweek2k16, F/M, Peggy Carter can do 107 one-armed push-ups, Shameless appropriation of movie lines, Steggy Positivity Week, Teachers AU, high school sweethearts, kinda crack!fic, the Avengers and Howlers are kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:10:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7025089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Marauders_Daughter/pseuds/The_Marauders_Daughter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Teacher!Peggy Carter takes her students, the Howlies, to a friendly school competition. The major rival? The Avengers. And their leader? Steve Rogers. </p><p>*summary sounds way better than the story actually is, and I apologize in advance*</p>
            </blockquote>





	The MCU Games

**Author's Note:**

> Entry for Day 2 of Steggy Positivity Week, created by fuckyeahsteveandpeggy (#steggyweek2k16) on Tumblr. I'm sick, this is unedited, written on my phone, and it went from cutesy romantic to crack in a snap. 
> 
> I apologize for everything expect the blatant abuse of movie lines. I love those parts.

The Marvel Curricular Union—or MCU, as it was lovingly known—was an after school program in Marvel, New York. Every year, the elementary schools participating in MCU would create teams, which would then compete against each other at the end of the school year in an Olympic style decathlon- the MCU Games.

‘Compete’ was a loose descriptor, since it was hard to maintain the attention of 3rd to 5th graders longer than ten minutes. All of the events were team-based, and the competition was always more of a giant party; it was hard to take the Games too seriously when the prize was a pizza-and-ice-cream party for all the kids and a trip to the Foster planetarium for the winning team.

The teams competed in several events. Since MCU was school-focused, a few of the categories were school related: a spelling bee; speed math; history and geography questions; and a mystery science experiment. There were also the more active parts of the competition: capture the flag; dodgeball (with toilet paper, after District Director Fury got hit in the eye last year); a three-legged race; and Nerf shooting. There were even a couple of events for the teachers: the pie eating contest and a push-up competition.

This year, six schools had made it to the Games, and the day promised to be one few would ever forget.

* * *

 

Margaret ‘Peggy’ Carter had been a fourth grade teacher for three years, but it was her first year participating in the Games. Atwell Elementary hadn't had an MCU program, so Peggy had started one.

Names were important in MCU. Each school program had a name, each team had a name, and it was traditional for each child to have a nickname or pseudonym to go by. It had taken Peggy two nights with a dictionary and a bottle of bourbon to come up with a ‘cool’ enough name for the program- the Strategic Homeroom Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division. SHIELD was brand-new, but the after-school crowd had fallen in love with it immediately. Her team had decided to name themselves, and although the school wasn't too pleased with the ‘Howling Commandos,’ they let the name slide.

The Howlies were hardly a non-competitive group. They were a mix of eight, nine, and ten-year olds, rambunctious to a fault, and had learned that while Ms. Carter loved them all, she wouldn't put up with anything but nearly-military obedience. Military order, however, was non-existent.

“Timothy, put your hat back on. Jim, in your seat, please. Angie, stop singing. Pinky, if you're going to throw up, please let me know so I can get you a bag.”

“Not what you expected, Carter?” Principal Phillips asked, riding next to her on the schoolbus.

She rolled her eyes at the Colonel, the principal’s nickname, and let out an ear-piercing whistle. “Atten- _tion!”_

The Howlies immediately sat down and looked up at her.

“Thank you, Howlers.” She raised an eyebrow at the Colonel, who only shrugged. “Now, will you behave or shall I ask the driver to turn the bus around?”

“No, Ms. Carter!” they chorused.

“So you will behave?”

“Yes, Ms. Carter!”

“Good. Now, agents, we are ten minutes away from the Games.” A cheer went up and Peggy waited them to calm down again. “When we get there, you will be representatives of Atwell Elementary. We will show the other teams that we are proper Agents of SHIELD, right Holwers?”

“Yes, Ms. Carter!”

“Good.” It was probably not the best idea to get them riled up, but Peggy felt the thrill of excitement rushing through her as well, and decided to give in to the energy. “What are we?” she chanted.

“Howling Commandos!” they screamed.

“What are we?!”

“Howling Commandos!”

“ _What. Are. We?!”_

“ _Howling Commandos!”_

***

Peggy left the Howlies under the Colonel’s watchful eye and registered her team. Only six schools were competing this year, after the scandal that had rocked the Games the year before. The Games had been won for five years straight by Zola, a private school just inside the city lines, until they had figured out that Hydra, led by Johann ‘Red Skull’ Schmidt, had been cheating. The school had been disqualified and there had been rumors about cancelling the next Games. MCU’s director, Dr. Abraham Erskine, finally gave them the go-ahead, and Peggy had formed her team.

She finished, but instead of returning to her team, she decided to look around the grounds. _Scope out the competition,_ the little voice in her head said, but she pushed it down. It was all friendly, she reminded herself, walking among parents and food carts. The Games were practically a mini-festival, at this point.

She was trying to decide whether it was too ridiculous to buy her team little sweatshirts with ‘I Survived the MCU Games’ on it when a deep voice roused her from her thoughts. “Peggy Carter?”

Peggy turned around to see a large, blonde man staring at her. A very tall, very, _very_ handsome man, and she was so distracted she almost didn't hear him continue. “It _is_ you! I knew I recognized that lipstick!”

Peggy reached over and shook the man’s hand. “I'm sorry, have we met?”

“Peggy… It's Steve.” The man still looked expectantly at her.

“I'm sorry, I don't…”

“Steve Rogers. We went to school together…”

Peggy felt her jaw drop. “Bull-” she clapped a hand over her mouth to keep the curse word at bay, which made the man laugh. “You're lying. Steve Rogers? I _dated_ Steve Rogers.” God, hadn't _that_ been an eternity ago. They had dated all through high school before enrolling in colleges across the country from each other. Neither was great at keeping in touch, and they'd lost contact with each other years ago. But Peggy still remembered her first boyfriend very clearly. “Steve is an inch taller than me and barely 90 pounds.”

“No Peg, it's me.”

His face was open, and excited. That’s likely what compelled Peggy to step forward, and suddenly she was hugging the stranger. Strong arms wrapped tightly around her and she pressed her face into his warm, firm chest. Peggy took a deep breath, and the faint trace of charcoal and shaving cream met her nose.

She knew that smell.

“Oh my god.”

“Told you.”

“Oh my god! _Steve?!”_

He shot her a shit-eating grin that was the last bit of proof she needed to believe him. “That's me.”

“Oh my… let me take a look at you.” He took a step back and spread his arms, doing a slow turn. “Crikey O’Reilly.” She couldn't help reaching out and touching his chest. “What happened?”

“I joined the army.”

“What? You made it? That's great! How? Wait, what are you doing here? ”

He opened her mouth to answer when the intercom announced that registration was about to close. Peggy looked at her watch and cursed. “Bloody… I need to get my kids. Will you walk with me? I haven't seen you in ages.” She hugged him again.

“Sure.” He tried to sound excited, but his face fell. The Steve she remembered always wore his emotions on his sleeve, and the same expression on this Steve’s face made her heart skip a beat. _Get a hold of yourself, Carter._ “So… how have you been? You said you have kids? Two, three…?”

“Thirty.” She laughed at the awestruck expression on his face. “I'm a teacher, now, Steve. Fourth grade. I'm going on four years now.”

The heartbroken expression on his face reversed, and he outright beamed. “Really? That's great, me too! I’m teaching art, but my team’s here too. Who’s your team? X-Kids, Guardians of the Galaxy—”

“We're the Howling Commandos, actually,” she smiled. “And you?”

“The Avengers.”

“That sounds harrowing.”

“Not as much as ‘commando,’ I'm sure.”

Peggy laughed and stopped just out of earshot of her team. “Those are my agents.”

“Agents, huh?”

She saluted him. “Director Carter, at your service.”

Steve straightened up and saluted back. “Captain America, likewise.”

Peggy couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

“Hey, no fair. My students chose that name for me.”

Peggy struggled to take in a breath, and soon Steve was laughing with her, too. “I'm sorry,” she giggled, “it's just… it's just, I remember you having to copy my notes for American history. You, you almost repeated tenth grade, remember?”

“God… I told you, my students picked it.” He took a deep breath and tried to control his laughter. “Proper Brit, knowing American history better than anyone else. _God,_ that was a long time ago,” he sighed.

“Are you calling me old, Captain?”

“That would be me, Director,” he grinned. “I’m turning 98 in July.”

“Prat.”

A small child decided to run up to them at that moment, nearly tackling Steve from behind. “Captain Rogers” he panted, “Sergeant Barnes said that you need to come back. They're gonna start without you!”

“Ok, Tony.”

“It's _Iron Man,_ Captain Rogers,” the boy complained. Steve picked him up and tickled his side, making the boy giggle.

“Ok, _Iron Man._ Tell Mr. Barnes I'll be right there.”

“No, Sergeant Barnes said now! The Scarlet Witch is gonna drag you over with her powers if you don't hurry up, Vision said so!”

“This sounds very pressing,” Peggy said. Tony nodded solemnly. She reached out and grasped Steve’s hand. “We need to meet after this, ok? Catch up. Promise?”

“Absolutely.” He bent down and pecked a kiss on her cheek. “See you later, Peg.”

“Eww!” Tony cried, even as Steve turned his heel and walked away. Peggy smiled fondly at the sight and walked back to her team. She hadn't seen a ring on his finger, she’d noticed. _Catch up, indeed._

***

The Games started off with a bang—literally. The first event was the science experiment, and Reed Richards, aka ‘Mr. Fantastic,’ somehow turned a baking soda volcano into an improvised bomb. The judges were not happy to be covered in papier-mâché and gave the win to Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark.

Dottie ‘Super Spy’ Underwood barely won out Natasha ‘Black Widow’ Romanoff and Charlie ‘the Professor’ Xavier in the spelling bee, but Angie ‘Broadway’ Martinelli cleaned everyone out in the speed math event.

After Logan ‘the Wolverine’ Howlette won history and geography, it was time for the Holwies’ specialty— the active events.

The Avengers beat the Howlers in dodgeball, but the Howlers easily won the three-legged race. Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton beat Timothy ‘Dum-Dum’ Dugan in Nerf archery. It was a very close game, but the Howlers came out on top in capture-the-flag when Peter ‘Starlord’ Quill accidentally knocked down Bruce ‘the Hulk’ Banner. The aftermath was not too pretty, and more than one kid was put in the penalty box as a result.

The team events ended, leaving the Avengers and the Howling Commandos tied for the lead.

Dr. Erskine seemed to take a lot of pleasure in saying, “it seems that now victory is up to the team leaders.”

The Howlies pushed Peggy to the front table, where the leaders were preparing to the pie-eating contest. Steve seemed to be suffering the same fate, as a kid looking too big to be a fifth-grader, answering only to the name ‘Thor,’ all but forced him to sit down next to her.

“Fancy meeting you here, Director,” he smirked.

She smiled. “I was about to say the same thing, Captain.”

“Something tells me you never grew out of your competitive streak.”

“Say the man with a plan.” Big blueberry pies were set down in front of the six teachers. “I seem to recall a certain boy refusing to back down from any sort of fight,” Peggy said.

Steve laughed. “Is that a challenge?”

“Will you two quit flirting?” Dr. Victor Von Doom complained from next to Steve. “You're making me lose my appetite.”

Peggy smiled and put her hands behind her back.

The buzzer went off in a burst of cheers and shouts from the students, eager to see their leaders compete against each case other, and all the teachers dove into their pies. All except one—Peggy took small, sedate bites of her challenge. When Steve won with a record-setting twenty seconds, she had barely worked her way through the crust.

Steve wiped blueberry mess from his face, frowning at her. “Weren't you competing, doll?”

The old endearment made Peggy smile. “Strategy, darling. You used to be pretty good at it, remember?”

Steve look confused at her until Dr. Erskine announced the last and final category: push ups. “You've gotta be kidding me.”

“I may not have your super soldier muscles, Rogers, but neither am I full of pie.”

Dr. Erskine lined up all the teachers on the main stage, making sure they were at eye level with all the children. “This is not a contest of speed,” he explained, “but rather one of endurance. We will see which teacher lasts the longest.”

The buzzer went off again, and all the children set the pace as they counted aloud. “One, two, three, four…”

Dr. Doom tapped out at twenty. Eric ‘Magneto’ Lehnsherr, at thirty. Krystian ’Groot’ Godlewski got a cramp and fell at sixty-seven. Yelena ‘the Russian’ Belova collapsed at eighty-nine.

At one hundred, Dr. Erskine stopped Peggy and Steve. “It seems that we need to come up with a different strategy,” he said. “From what I see, you two can do this all day.”

Peggy was struggling for breath, but she looked better than Steve, who looked ready to puke. “Should we try them one-handed?”

Steve stared at her. “You're insane.”

“We can switch arms, obviously. Unless you'd rather forfeit?” she asked teasingly.

Steve set his jaw. “On your count, Dr. Erskine.”

“Good man,” the doctor muttered, before the buzzer sounded.

They started from zero, and even the kids looked on in amazement as they counted. Steve was bright red at thirty. Peggy was dripping in sweat by fifty-five. Steve had to pant for breath at seventy. Peggy herself was ready to puke at ninety five. At one hundred and one one-armed push-ups, Steve’s arm folded under him and he fell to the floor, swallowing against the wave of nausea that threatened to send him running. He laid on the stage, gasping for control, and looked over at Peggy as the students cheered. They quieted again when they realized that Peggy had not moved.

Everyone expected her to do one more push-up, and then announce her victory.

But instead of stopping, Peggy kept going. Everyone stared in amazement as she continued, a hundred and two, a hundred and three, a hundred “and four, a hundred and five, a hundred and six, a hundred and seven—” at that last one Peggy pushed herself off the ground and jumped up, before falling down next to Steve.

The kids screamed in triumph, racing up onto the stage to surround Director Carter, all yelling at the same time, too much chaos to make out.

Dr. Erskine managed to make himself heard, saying that because of the tie, both the Avengers and the Howling Commandos would go to the planetarium.

Peggy dimly noticed her triumph, and only wiggled herself closer to Steve, so her face was at level with his. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Good.” She kissed him, and the children around them went crazy.

Peggy pulled back to see Steve smiling down at her like a love struck idiot. To be honest, the same expression was probably mirrored in her face. He didn't look that way for too long, since he leaned over and kissed her back.

“It seems we've tied, Steve.” Peggy said as they pulled apart. “What does that mean for our catch-up session?”

“What do you say we start catching up on the way to the planetarium?” He asked before kissing her again.

_Man with a plan indeed._

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't help the nicknames. The teams are below as I saw them in my head:
> 
>  
> 
> Guardians of the Galaxy
> 
> X-Kids
> 
> Fantastics
> 
> Red Room
> 
> Avengers  
> •Tony ‘Iron Man’ Stark  
> •Bruce ‘the Hulk’ Banner  
> •Thor Odinson  
> •Natasha ‘the Black Widow’ Romanoff  
> •Clint ‘Hawkeye’ Barton  
> •Wanda ‘Scarlet Witch’ Maximoff  
> •Pietro ‘Quicksilver’ Maximoff  
> •Edwin ‘Vision’ Jarvis  
> •Maria ‘the Deputy’ Hill  
> •Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts
> 
> Howling Commandos  
> •Timothy ‘Dum-Dum’ Dugan  
> •James ‘English’ Falsworth  
> •Jacques ‘Boom’ Dernier  
> •Jim ‘Ace’ Morita  
> •Gabe ‘Grandpop’ Jones  
> •Percival ‘Pinky’ Pinkerton  
> •Jonathan ‘Junior’ Juniper  
> •‘Happy’ Sam Sawyer  
> •Angie ‘Broadway’ Martinelli  
> •Rose ‘the Surfer’ Roberts
> 
>  
> 
> Krystian Godlewski is the guy that acted Groot on screen in the Guardians of the Galaxy film.


End file.
